you'll only give me a chance.'

'Well spoke, Mas'r Dick,' said Mathews proudly. 'Werry well spoke
indeed.'

The officer, who had been about to issue a peremptory order, stopped at
the sturdy honesty of the groom's voice. 'Send for Captain Selwyn,' he
said. 'You will find him at the creek.'

III.

By a creek that trickled across the road, Captain Austin Selwyn was
watching the brushwood which concealed the enemy. Beside him, lining the
bank, every available man was on the alert, waiting the developments
which would follow the raising of night's curtain. In the misty gray of
dawn they looked fabulous in size, and indistinct.

The night in January at the University Club in New York had marked a
reconciliation between Selwyn and Van Derwater. With the issue between
America and Germany so clearly defined, they had both lent their voices
to the insistent demand for war. At first people had been incredulous,
and hazarded the guess that the young author was endeavouring to cover
his own tracks; but when he enlisted in the ranks at the outbreak of
hostilities, they made a popular hero of him. They spoke of him as the
Spirit of the Cause; but he paid little attention to the clamour. His
joy in the prospect of action, and the release from all his mental
tortures, had produced in him a kind of frenzy, that crystallised into an
intense hatred of Germany.

The pendulum had swung to its extreme. Once a man animated with a
passionate humanitarianism, in whom the spirit of universal brotherhood
burned with an inextinguishable force, he had become a creature drunk
with lust for revenge. Patriotism, Justice, Freedom--they were all
catch-words to hide the brutal, primeval instinct to kill.

In the little thought which he permitted himself, Selwyn argued that the
ignorance of many nations had made war possible, but only Germany had
been vile enough to try to exploit it for the achievement of world-power.
For that reason alone she was a thing of detestation.

His enthusiasm and quickly acquired knowledge of army routine marked him
for promotion. He was given a commission, and at the request of Van
Derwater was attached to the same regiment as himself. Together they had
crossed to France, and were among the first American troops in action.

In the months that followed, Selwyn had revelled in the carnage and the
excitement of war. He was reckless to the point of bravado, and his keen
dramatic instinct drove him into u